On November 6, 1850
President Millard Fillmore signed papers to make Alcatraz
government property. Plans were then made and carried out
to make Alcatraz a fortification. The original budget for
construction of a fort on Alcatraz were initially
$300,000, but soon proved to be inaccurate.

It was recommended that
two batteries be built, one at the south end and one at
the north end of the island. Each battery was enclosed by
a two story brick wall measuring 50x25 feet. Along with
the batteries would be moats, drawbridges, soldiers'
barracks, and a guard house. Powder magazines,
underground water cisterns, adn wardhouses for provisions
were also among the vast building plans for Alcatraz.
Construction was left to Zealous Bates Tower and 2nd Lt.
Fedrick Prime as his assistant.

Before fort construction
could be started some basic buildings were needed. These
buildings included: wooden shops, storehouses, laborers'
barracks, engineers' offices, and a wharf. Construction
was well under way at Alcatraz, but was not coming along
as quickly as Lime Point and Fort Point.

Concerns about lack of
defense brought about the first armament on Alcatraz in
1854. Alcatraz received 11 guns which were temporary, but
there were still no soldiers. Soon two batteries grew to
three and slowly the government added more guns to the
armament on Alcatraz. The number of guns on Alcatraz grew
to 124 in 1861, and in 1855 permanent weapons arrived.
These guns weighed 4 1/2 tons each. After each gun was
mounted they were test fired.

Cannon Battery on
Alcatraz

After finishing
construction on the aforementioned buildings, Alcatraz
was open and ready in December 1859 as a fortress and a
prison. The first group of soldiers sent to Alcatraz were
confined there for unknown crimes.

Although Alcatraz was open
in 1859, construction continued. Before long a 5th and
6th battery were added. More firearms were sent. On July
20, 1864 Alcatraz was mounted with the biggest guns
produced at that time. The 15 inch Rodman's weighed
50,000 pounds and could fire 440 pounds of solid material
three miles away.

Because of Alcatraz's
location it was soon thought of as escape proof and was
used as a military prison before it ever became a Federal
Penitentiary. Alcatraz became an official military prison
for the entire Department of the Pacific on August 27,
1861. The military prison had between 15 and 50 men, but
not all were soldiers and confederate priveteers. Some
were local citizens and politicians whose loyalty was
under suspicion. These prisoners were confined to the
basement cellroom of the guardhouse. In 1862 the military
prison became overpopulated and excess prisoners were
housed in the Horwitzer rooms.

The end of the Civil War
marked the end of Alcatraz's defense purpose. By this
time the government had spent $1,601,677 on
fortifications. Most of the weapons were also obsolete.
In the 1890's the government again made plans to redesign
Alcatraz, but these plans were dropped in 1897.

The Spanish-American War
had an extensive effect on Alcatraz. What weapons
Alcatraz did have were shipped to the Philippines and
Cuba. When the war was over military prisoners were again
shipped to Alcatraz. The prison population went from 25
to 441 in ten months. With this increase, extra room was
needed. In 1907 the War Department decided to make
Alcatraz a permanent prison assigned to serve the United
States Army west of the Rockies. Alcatraz was made a
state of the art prison. The construction on the military
prison was complete in late 1911.

Alcatraz continued to be
useful as a military prison for many years. But, soon the
cost of operating Alcatraz became too high. Two people
from the department of Justice were looking for a
"Super Prison". Alcatraz was the ideal location
and on October 13, 1933 Alcatraz was handed over to the
Department of Justice.